Abstract
To reduce the spread of the virus, authorities have imposed restrictive measures, such as limiting movement of individuals, shutting down non-essential stores, imposing a general or local quarantine, along with physical distancing and isolation of vulnerable people. Remote working has become the ‘new normal’ for many organizations, engendering further challenges for employees, who have started experiencing anxiety, technostress caused by digitalization and lack of social interaction, frustration, occupational burden, counterproductive work behavior, exhaustion, burnout, depersonalization, and increased turnover intention. All these factors, corroborated by prolonged restrictions, have contributed to a decrease in employee satisfaction, diminishing performance and generating a counterproductive behavior. Based on Social Exchange Theory, this research plans to investigate the influence of internal marketing on job satisfaction, task performance, and counterproductive work behavior in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in an emerging market, namely Romania. Based on a quantitative research study among 850 employees, we show that internal marketing strongly and significantly impacts job satisfaction, while insignificantly impacting task performance and counterproductive work behavior. Job satisfaction actuates task performance in a significant and positive manner, contributing to a reduction in counterproductive work behaviors. This paper highlights the effects of internal marketing orientation on job satisfaction, and the effects of job satisfaction on job performance and counterproductive work behaviors.
Highlights
The COVID-19 global pandemic has become a reality in managing the processes of organizational health, and in the recent management of human resources [1,2,3], with direct implications on employee satisfaction and performance [4], together with the effects and vast repercussions on employee wellbeing
Taking into consideration the positive influence of internal marketing and job satisfaction on task performance [24,58,60], and with regards to the reduction of employee counterproductive work behaviors [111], we propose an analysis of the contribution of internal marketing on job satisfaction, task performance, and counterproductive work behaviors in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in an emerging market (Figure 1)
With toto which internal marketing influences jobjob satisWithaaview viewtotoidentifying identifyingthe theextent extent which internal marketing influences satfaction, task performance and counterproductive behavior in the context of the sanitation isfaction, task performance and counterproductive behavior in the context of the sanitapandemic generated by COVID-19, the authors resorted to implementing an explorative tion pandemic generated by COVID-19, the authors resorted to implementing an explorquantitative study among employees in Romania
Summary
The COVID-19 global pandemic has become a reality in managing the processes of organizational health, and in the recent management of human resources [1,2,3], with direct implications on employee satisfaction and performance [4], together with the effects and vast repercussions on employee wellbeing. This paper plans to fill a research gap regarding the extent to which, in the context of the pandemic, internal marketing may provide a solution to increase employee satisfaction, to diminish counterproductive work behavior, and to increase task performance within an organization. The paper is structured as follows: the following section is comprised of a literature review regarding the approach of internal marketing within organizations and its role in managing human resources in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this framework, the role of employees’ job satisfaction and performance in accomplishing tasks with regards to organizational health and stability are highlighted. The final section consists of the theoretical contributions of the paper to the advancement of Social Exchange Theory, the managerial implications, and the limitations and research prospects
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